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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Do you remember this song? I do. I was 7 when it hit the airwaves in 1970. I could not have told you it was sung by Five Man Electrical Band, but I bet I can still sing most of the lyrics. Remember... in 1970, radio was still king and this song was all over the place.

I'm not just reminiscing. This thought has a beginning. It actually started with a Facebook post by Pup #3 that went something like this:

PUP #3: And the sign said 'long haired freaky people, need not apply

Baby Brother: "So I took off my hat I said imagine that"

PUP #3: Uncle John, you just have no idea how cool you are.

This exchange led to a conversation between The Love of His Life and myself. She mentioned that her son (my nephew) was doubly impressed by their uncle because he knew the lyrics from a "obscure Fat Boy Slim song". What?!

TLoHL told him he was wrong because the lyric was really from the Tesla song, "Signs". What?! (BTW, my response to her comment was, "Wasn't he a scientist?" There was a band called Tesla? Um, for the record... yes and they have sold over 16 million albums in the US. How did I miss them?)

(And yes, Tesla *jazzed up* some of the lyrics.)

Needless to say,Google is my friend. And needless to say, my nephew was right.

(Sorry for the boring "video". The one Fat Boy Slim's put out tells a story about racism. I hate racism and on that level, I am good with the video. However, I take offense that he portrays the racist as a middle aged white man. I also hate promulgating stereotypes, thus this version will work.)

So... three people and three different takes on the same song. Mine from 1970. TLoHL's from 1990. My nephew's from 2005. Each of us only knew about "our" version. Baby brother's? I'm not sure. The world may never know just how cool he is.